A blog commenting on various aspects of the private collecting and trade in archaeological artefacts today and their effect on the archaeological record.

Thursday, 14 February 2013

FLO Response on "Risqué" find

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There is a thread going on over on a metal detecting forum near you about a "Risque (sic) find for ID please (FLO Update)" where a finder is seeking help identifying an object with a depiction on it which he finds interesting. Of more interest is the way in which the local FLO communicated their own identification:

Hi I have checked with colleagues and although similar its not Roman. Its likely to be a 19th brothel token though! hope that helps? [Name withheld]

The punctuation leaves something to be desired in a letter coming from an employee of an official body run by the British Museum. Why is there a question mark at the end? This is either statement:

"[I] hope that helps."

or a question:

"[does] that [help]?"

It cannot be both.

In either case though, the response from the finder is the same negative. The FLO is telling them nothing they do not already know, but is evidently getting very excited about it, as indicated by the exclammation mark.

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About Me

British archaeologist living and working in Warsaw, Poland. Since the early 1990s (or even longer) a primary interest has been research on artefact hunting and collecting and the market in portable antiquities in the international context and their effect on the archaeological record.

Abbreviations used in this blog

"coiney" - a term I use for private collector of dug up ancient coins, particularly a member of the Moneta-L forum or the ACCG

"heap-of-artefacts-on-a-table-collecting" the term rather speaks for itself, an accumulation of loose artefacts with no attempt to link each item with documented origins. Most often used to refer to metal detectorists (ice-cream tubs-full) and ancient coin collectors (Roman coins sold in aggregated bulk lots)